


Redemption

by Dolimir



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Episode Related, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 07:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dolimir/pseuds/Dolimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim is given an unusal thank you gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redemption

## Redemption

by Dolimir

Not mine. No copyright infringement was intended. No money was made. 

I'm pretty sure Lola beta'd this for me some time ago. I don't know why I didn't post it at Halloween. I think I was in one of my moods.

Set after S2P2, but before TSbyBS.

* * *

Jim Ellison pulled the keys from the truck ignition and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a hell of a week, and it was only Wednesday. He was grateful to have enough seniority to get out of the extra shift required of most personnel on Halloween. A small part of him felt guilty for shirking his duty, but he brutally boxed that feeling away. Over the years he had done his share of double duty and he was bound and determined to enjoy this brief respite. 

There were only four children in the building and Jim knew that Blair would take care of passing out the treats before he left for the big bash at the university. 

Jim extended his hearing as soon as he entered the building, automatically listening for his partner. 

//"Twick or tweet, Bwair," four-year-old Sara whispered shyly, while her older sister Rachel shouted, "Hi, Blair."// 

//"Well don't you two simply look precious?"// Jim heard Blair responded. 

Jim frowned slightly. Precious? He didn't believe he had ever heard that particular term pass his partner's lips before. 

Jim stepped off the elevator in time to meet the two children. Looking at their fairy princess outfits, he had to agree, they were indeed precious. "Hi Detector Ellison," Rachel shouted happily, racing away from her mother and holding up her bright orange plastic pumpkin. "Blair gave us chocolate." 

"Chocwalt," Sara agreed with a big smile on her face, although she didn't release her mother's hand. 

Jim squatted beside Rachel. "So where are you headed now?" 

Sara, however, was the one who answered in a whisper, "Pwaty." 

"But Blair said to come here first," Rachel informed him brightly. 

"I'm sure he just wanted to make sure you got your candy before I came home." Jim grinned, playfully tapping Rachel's nose. 

"Why's that?" Rachel asked curiously. 

"Because when I smell chocolate," Jim said in a grumbly giant voice as he started to rise, "I have to eat everything in sight." 

Sara giggled, while Rachel's eyes got wide. 

Jim made a big pretense of sniffing. 

Rachel finally giggled, yanking on her mother's arm and pulling her toward the stairwell. "Hurry, Mama, hurry," 

"Night, Jim," Angela grinned brightly, rolling her eyes at her daughter's antics. 

"Keep them warm," he called after them. 

"I will," Angela's response floated up from the stairwell. In a moment of impishness, Jim leaned over the railing and growled, smiling when he heard the giggles and pleas to hurry. 

He turned, surprised to see Blair leaning on the door frame of the loft looking at him with an expression he had never seen before. 

"Why didn't you ever have children?" his roommate asked quietly, his voice oddly lyrical. 

Jim shrugged, used to strange question at odd times from the grad student. "Never met the right woman, I suppose." He heard the quick inhalation of breath, but when he brought his gaze back to his guide's face, he saw nothing but a serene countenance. 

"Have Jason and Justin already been by?" he asked, moving into the loft and taking off his jacket. 

"Yes, about a half hour ago." Blair shut the door behind him, then leaned against it, his eyelids lowering slightly. 

"I thought you'd be all dressed up and raring to go to your party," Jim said quietly, his brows knitting together again in confusion. 

"I decided not to go." 

"Decided not to go? But it's all you've been talking about for the past week." 

Blair sighed. "I thought it would be a nice change of pace to stay home. You haven't been home in ages. I wanted to fix you a home cooked meal." 

There was a definite lilt to Blair's voice, something Jim felt was familiar, something he should recognize, but the nuance was eluding him, teasing the corners of his mind. 

Jim shrugged, but smiled. "Far be it from me to protest your spoiling me." He moved into the kitchen and noticed the steaming pots. "So what are we having?" 

"Lobster, scallops, au gratin potatoes, and asparagus." 

Jim blinked. "Lobster, but you don't eat lobster." 

Blair's smile faltered briefly. "Sure I do," he insisted. 

"Sandburg, you once made me listen to you rant for a half hour about the evils of boiling living creatures." 

Blair rolled his eyes. "I decided I should try it before I knocked it." 

Jim moved around the kitchen island and gently grabbed his friend by the shoulders. He looked down into the dark blue eyes blinking up at him. The heartbeat was the same, and yet not quite right. He inhaled deeply, the scent was Blair's, but not exactly. 

Large sturdy hands moved slowly up Jim's chest, resting lightly above his chest. 

"Who...who are you?" Jim stuttered. 

"Who do you think I am?" Blair asked with amusement. 

Jim gripped the man before him and shook him hard once. "I swear if you've harmed him..." 

"Your guide is perfectly safe. In fact, it's you who is currently hurting him," Blair said quietly. 

Jim jumped back as if burned, releasing the younger man. 

Blair chuckled then moved into the kitchen, his hips swaying gently back and forth as he did. Without another word, he picked up a large pair of tongs and pulled a lobster out of the pot and laid it on a plate beside the stove. 

Jim watched in stunned silence as his guide removed a second lobster, knowing on the most instinctual level that the creature before him was not his guide...and yet was. He closed his eyes briefly, opening them only to watch Blair place various dishes on the table. 

"I hope you're hungry. I must admit, I overdid it a bit." Blair looked at the table, frowning slightly for a moment before his eyes brightened. He returned to the table with a garlic butter sauce. He set the a silver bowl beside each of their plates, then took a seat, looking curiously up at Jim when the older man didn't move. "Please, Jim, sit and enjoy the meal. I'd hate to think of all this food going to waste." 

Jim moved cautiously to the table and sat in his chair, never taking his eyes off his partner. 

Blair grinned brilliantly at him and passed him a towel. Jim blinked at the cloth for a moment then set it in his lap. When he looked back up again, Blair was cracking the lobster's shell and digging out the succulent meat with a small fork. 

They ate in silence for several minutes, before Blair said, "You know, I've always been fascinated by asparagus." 

"What?" Jim laughed, startled. 

Blair grinned impishly at him. "Did you know that an asparagus planting is usually not harvested for the first three years after the crowns are planted allowing the crown to develop a strong fibrous root system and that a well cared for asparagus planting will generally produce for about fifteen years without being replanted?" 

"I did not know that," Jim said, trying hard not to laugh. 

Blair waggled his eyebrows. "It's true." 

A memory of Bali flashed through Jim's mind and he shook his head in confusion. 

"Jim, are you okay?" Blair asked, setting his fork down beside his plate. 

Jim focused on Blair's face, on the dark blue eyes that seemed duller somehow, on the softening of the features which had been so drawn as of late. "Lila," he whispered and closed his eyes briefly, expecting a myriad of outraged questions to be thrown at him. When silence was his only response, he opened his eyes again. 

"Hello, Jim," Blair said softly, a sad smile on his face. 

"My God, it's true," Jim gasped, his rational mind desperately trying to refute what he knew to be true. 

"What have you done to Blair?" 

"I haven't done anything to Blair." 

"Why are you here, Lila?" 

"It was the asparagus, wasn't it?" Blair laughed, shaking his head and pulling absently on a strand of hair. "I can't help it. I've always been fascinated by it." And as if to prove his point, Blair delicately ate a stalk, his eyes never leaving Jim's. 

"You didn't answer the question," Jim said in a hard voice. 

"What makes you think there was a rational question to answer?" 

Jim frowned. Was Blair going around the bend? 

Blair smiled at him again and ate another piece of asparagus. "Dinner conversation is so hard to make anymore." 

"What in the hell is going on here?" Jim said, not angrily, but confused and tired. 

Blair finished eating another piece asparagus and laid his fork on his plate. He then placed his elbows on the table on either side of his plate and entwined his fingers, laying his chin on top of his knuckles. "What do you feel when you think of Lila?" 

Jim closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pain in his chest. "Sadness," he whispered. 

"Why?" 

"Because she found redemption too late," Jim said, opening his eyes, wondering why he was even responding to the absurd questions. 

"Have you ever considered that she found redemption just in time...because of you?" Blair asked, just as softly. 

Jim's gaze shot up to Blair's face, only to find a gentle loving look being returned. "No. I guess I hadn't." 

"It's a thought," Blair smiled, before picking his fork back up and taking a couple more bites of lobster. 

Jim clenched his jaw. He was missing something. He felt it in his bones. Tonight was Halloween. Or Samhain. A night recognized by most pagan religions as a night when the walls between the worlds grew thin. Jim blinked at his friend across the table. 

"How do you think Lila would feel about a last minute reprieve," Jim asked, trying for nonchalance, but knowing he failed miserably. 

Blair smiled at him. "I think she would be grateful beyond belief, at suddenly finding peace, at finding the unconditional love she had sought for so long in this world." 

Jim swallowed hard. "And if she had a chance to come back, even if only for a couple of hours?" 

"I think she'd take every opportunity to thank the one who made it all possible." 

"Maybe, by fixing a fancy dinner?" 

Blair smirked openly at him. "I could see that happening." 

"Would there be any other reason?" 

Blair chewed thoughtfully for a moment, studying Jim in a way he had never been studied before. "To maybe," Blair whispered, "return the favor." 

"And how would she do that?" Jim encouraged softly. 

Blair set his fork down again and walked around the table, sitting in the chair next to Jim's and tenderly taking Jim's hands in his own. "To remind you that love is all around you, maybe not in the form you expected or even wanted, but that it's there...waiting...hoping..." 

Jim swallowed hard. 

"Don't be afraid, Jim." Blair leaned in, his face mere inches away from Jim's. "Maybe that's where Lila went wrong. What if she had found the courage to say yes to you in Bali, to walk away from her past and to give love a chance?" 

"I don't know," Jim whispered. 

"None of us do. But how many people can say that death is not enough to separate them? How many people get a second chance at love?" Blair closed the distance between them. Jim opened his mouth, receiving the warm sweetness being offered him. "Don't blow this chance, Jim," Blair whispered, pulling back slightly. "Let me guide you in this." 

Jim swallowed hard again, but nodded. Blair leaned in and kissed him tenderly, but in the middle of the kiss something changed. It was still as gentle, as loving, but Jim knew his former lover had left, leaving him with his soul mate, the one who would stand by his side through all things. 

Blair shuddered once and pulled back slightly. "Jim?" he asked in confusion. 

Jim could feel the grad student begin to pull back, and realized if he allowed the distance, he would lose Blair forever. He leaned forward, possessing Blair's mouth just as Lila had possessed his body, and stood, slowly bringing the younger man with him. When Blair was on his feet, Jim guided them to the couch. Never removing his lips from Blair's, he guided his partner back onto the couch, covering the smaller body with his own. 

Blair whimpered slightly, trying to catch his breath, his hands unconsciously roaming Jim's chest. "Jim?" he asked again. 

Jim buried his nose in Blair's loose hair and breathed deeply, then kissed a trail down the younger man's cheek to his mouth. Blair met him halfway, his body arching toward Jim's, mewling with unspoken need. 

"Mine," Jim whispered fiercely. 

Blair nodded, his hands moving around Jim's chest and scratching down his back. 

"Say it," Jim demanded. 

"Yours," Blair whispered back. 

"Forever." 

"Through time and space." 

Jim smiled ferally before he possessed his lover in a way neither of them had ever known before. 

* * *

Jim looked fondly down into the face of his spent lover. Blair was definitely out for the count. Gently, Jim pushed himself off the couch and pulled an old flannel blanket out of the end table and covered Blair. He knew if he moved quickly and quietly he could remove all traces of the lobster before Blair woke. While the grad student might understand spiritual possession, he would never understand lobster. 

Jim smiled as he silently moved into the kitchen. 

"Thank you, Lila," he mouthed, knowing she heard him, wherever she was. "I won't blow this second chance," he vowed, knowing that redemption was the most precious gift of all. 

\--End-- 

* * *

End Redemption by Dolimir: Dolimir@aol.com

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